The 2024-25 Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Sep 10, 2024 - This consists of (1) $77  million (growing to $132  million in 2025-26) from the previously planned deactivation of Chuckawalla Valley State Prison in Blythe, (2) $82  million from the deactivation of 42 housing units across 11 state prisons, and (3) $10  million (growing to $11  million in 2025-26) related to reduced administrative costs resulting from these and previous deactivations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4924

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - The budget assumes reductions to CDFA ’s budget of $11  million ($9.8  million General Fund) authorized by Control Sections 4.05 and 4.12 of the budget act. This includes $8.2  million ($7  million General Fund) in efficiency reductions and $2.8  million General Fund in vacant position reductions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081

The 2025-26 Budget: SB 678 County Probation Grant Program

Apr 11, 2025 - In 2023-24, each county received their highest SB  678 grant award from the prior three fiscal years (2018-19, 2019-20, or 2020-21) due to concerns that grant awards would fluctuate for reasons unrelated to performance.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5031

The 2025-26 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47

Feb 26, 2025 - The department then assumed that the same number of people would again be admitted to state prison under Proposition  36 and would remain in state prison for 11 months on average. In other words, the administration assumes that Proposition  36 will essentially reverse Proposition  47.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4991

The 2025-26 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 25, 2025 - The department then assumed that the same number of people would again be admitted to state prison under Proposition 36 and would remain in state prison for 11 months on average. We find that this estimation methodology is problematic for the following reasons: Does Not Account for Key Features of Treatment ‑Mandated Felony.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4986

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - In fall 2019 (the year just before the pandemic), the gap in success rates between in ‑person and correspondence courses was 15  percentage points. The gap shrunk temporarily during the pandemic as success rates for in ‑person courses declined as a result of disruptions to in ‑person  programming.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2023-24 Budget: Financing Approaches for Capital Outlay Projects

Feb 28, 2023 - This post: (1) provides background on common approaches to financing capital outlay projects, (2) identifies key trade-offs associated with the Governor’s approach to financing certain capital outlay projects in the 2023-24 budget, and (3) provides recommendations to the Legislature when considering capital outlay financing approaches.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4709